Planting Churches

OUTCOME #4

The Forbes.com’s number 1 Business Book of 2016 was, KEEP IT SIMPLE: Unclutter Your Mind to Uncomplicate Your Life written by Joe Calloway. The book challenges us to resist the temptation to overcomplicate things and to boil things down to the essence of what matters most. It confronts our natural almost unnoticed tendency to drift towards complexity or away from the purpose for which we exist. It takes some continued resolve to keep it simple and focused. Calloway’s advice is to boil things down to three simple rules, like the large national trucking company that reduced things to three simple rules:

Japan (MNN) – Japan continues to be decimated by natural disasters after a summer filled with floods, heatwaves, earthquakes, typhoons, and landslides. Typhoon Jebi, the strongest to hit Japan’s mainland island of Honshu in a quarter century, made landfall on Tuesday. At least ten people have been reported dead. The storm overturned cars and quite literally tore the country apart. Reports say the violent winds pulled Houunmaru, ...

India (MNN) — In the wake of historic flooding, Indian officials say it’s going to take at least $3 billion to rebuild Kerala over the next two years. The deluge laid waste to nearly every inch of Kerala’s society, destroying more than 10,000 kilometers of roads and the livelihoods of at least 200,000 people. As explained the government is turning away offers of international relief aid. “The government is committed to meeting the requirements for relief and rehabilitation through domestic efforts,” a spokesperson for India’s foreign ministry said last week...

Japan (MNN) — Radiation remains a challenge even seven years after Japan’s nuclear meltdown outside Fukushima. On Thursday, UN experts called on Japan to help cleanup workers who may not have received proper training on radiation exposure. The special rapporteurs also warned of exploitation. Takeshi Takazawa of Asian Access saw the effects of radiation first-hand during a recent trip. Donning protective gear, he and other A2 leaders visited a parsonage approximately three miles from the nuclear plant...

Silk and I recently had the privilege of teaching for our Marriage and Family Module in a South Asian country that we cannot name. Pictured here (with a blurred face) is one of the wives who was surprised by the benefit of Asian Access. She said she was skeptical about coming for this week and even wasn’t sure the program was all that important for her husband, who pastors a church in their country and leads a network of ministries and churches...

Japan’s deluge continues

Japan (MNN) — Yet another severe tropical storm is expected to roll through southern Japan this evening. According to Accuweather.com, the storm is expected to skirt just south of areas saturated by July’s constant rainfall. Along with the typical destruction, this summer’s typhoon season brought...

As a leader called by God, what will be my greatest ambition? In what way will I truly please my Master? All leaders work to reach a place of success in their work for God. There is something hypnotising to be on top to receive recognition and reward. It makes one feel good to be on a place applauded by people in this side of history. In Exodus 33, Moses as a leader learned that what matters the most is to be in God’s presence...